Knitting Panic Monster & Finished Objects

I was sitting in a waiting room today, mindlessly knitting on a project when it struck me….I appear to be suffering from knitting ADHD. Usually, my best brainwaves happen in the shower – years of showering in the dark, preparing to make my body think it is nighttime and thus time to think, removes all the fuzz from my brain. But sitting in this waiting room today it just hit me: I am afraid to finish my big projects because I am afraid I am going to muck them up.

This is silly. My Panic Monster may be in fine form lately but I refuse to be beaten by the means of that little bugger. So going home I told my husband I was going to finish two projects today – turns out I finished three. 🙂

Sock 1 of 2.

So this is the first sock of my third pair. I am no longer really following a pattern – just taking bits and pieces from a lot of patterns to find something that I like. Despite doing the toe decreases a little wonkily the sock fits like a dream! I also really like Patons Jacquards – this on is the Aqua Jacquard, and working with size 2.25mm needles really isn’t that scary.

The Boneyard Shawl is FINISHED!!!!

This, friends and neighbors, is my finished Boneyard Shawl! It is a free pattern on Ravelry by Stephen West (he was the one who designed the Dustland Hat, which is awesome) and I love it! I should be embarrassed to show a picture of it before it’s bath and block, but I am so excited that I finally finished it. I did the Russian Lace Bind Off for Cast On, Bind Off which is gloriously stretchy, and the yarn is Bernat Mosaic in Aura. I don’t really like this yarn to be honest, but the color progression is lovely, so I will forgive it. Again, it was another long-term project that was languishing in my cabinet, just waiting for me to put in a couple of hours and finish it.

My Design!

This super bulky, cabled cowl is one of the first of (hopefully many) my designs. I geared up my noggin, picked up some sticks and string and let it rip 😉

It was knitted on size 15US needles with Lions Brand Hometown USA in Little Rock Granite. It may be acrylic yarn but it knit up really nicely, and more importantly handles the two cable needles and 9 stitch cable really well. The only problem I’ve encountered is the seaming, everything lines up perfectly but there is that little row where the sewing shows – if you’re looking. Which…I am.

Pre-Blocking

WIP

After Blocking – Just not aggressive enough.

I would really like to write-up the pattern but don’t think I should until I figure out the seam – what would be the point of putting it out there without a way to finish it seamlessly? Hmm….I find the whole thing a little baffling.

One day, three projects and I feel like attacking everything in my knitting cabinet. I was fortunate that my WIP cabinet is in our den, if it was still in the basement the burst pipe would have taken all this work. Now I just have to tackle that sweater….and with that friends and neighbors, I will leave you with my thoughts on that!

You beat the monster!! Way to go. Socks are wonderful. Like you, I live to experiment with various heels and toes. Always searching for the perfect sock!! Boneyard shawl is lovely – love the colors. Cowl is cool – I agree that it’s a good pattern is use Kitchener stitch.

Thank you! So what are your favorite sock heels and toes? I was reading Knitter’s Book of Socks by Clara Parkes and she had a pattern in the very back called….oh I am going to muck this up….the Indestructible sock? I am dying to try it!

I like how you have those cables offset. I made a cabled band recently and then mindlessly seamed it, forgetting to work the cables opposite so it would look seamless. I don’t even know if that would have worked and I lack the energy to try again.

Okay, take socks off the table for a moment – what do you want to spend your time making?
You’ve got your writing – which is better than my knitting I will admit…bitterly – but if you like the other creative outlet think about what you want to spend your “free time” doing 😉 I’m curious to know what it is.

Really I just want free time. But I’ve been wanting to clone this hat I saw on TV and I made the one but it’s kind of thin and knit with size 10.5 needles so I wasn’t able to get anywhere near the design on the actual hat, which has a Celtic knot cabled into it.

Yea – I will probably be bugging you to help me figure out how to get that to work. I’ve just been so busy with orders – and my new lust of socks – that my sweater is just judging me from my knitting cabinet.